12. Working with Applications

12.1 Deploying Artifacts

In the context of Virgo Server for Apache Tomcat, deploying refers to installing an artifact to the server and then starting it to make it available to users. Typically, when you install an artifact, VTS automatically starts it as long as the server is able to successfully resolve all its dependencies. For this reason, the terms deploying and installing are often used interchangeably.

You deploy artifacts to Virgo Server for Apache Tomcat using either the hot-deploy directory on the file system or by using the Admin Console. The artifacts that you can deploy to VTS are:

Bundles, including Web Application Bundles

WARs

PARs

Plans

Configuration Files

Hot Deploy

To hot deploy an artifact, copy it into the pickup directory (by default $SERVER_HOME/pickup):

If there is a problem with the deployment, such as the server being unable to resolve all dependencies, the console and log both show an error message to help you with troubleshooting.

If there are no problems, VTS automatically starts the artifact so that it is immediately available to users.

Deploying Using the Admin Console

The Admin Console allows you to upload a file, which will be deployed automatically, from your local file system to the Virgo Server for Apache Tomcat. As soon as Virgo Server for Apache Tomcat deploys the artifact, it appears in the list of artifacts in the Admin Console. Note that the GUI for uploading varies according to the browser and operating system you use.

What Happens When You Deploy

When you deploy an artifact, either using hot-deployment or the Admin Console, Web Server copies the file to its work directory (SERVER_HOME/work) and registers it in its internal registry.
The server then checks any dependencies the artifact might have to see if
deployment can go ahead, and if all dependencies are resolved, Virgo Server for Apache Tomcat starts the artifact.
Because of all these additional internal activities, you should NOT simply copy the artifact into the work directory and assume it will be deployed, because Virgo Server for Apache Tomcat will not do so.

Deployment Ordering

When deploying bundles that have dependencies, it is important
that you deploy them in the correct order. Virgo Server for Apache Tomcat
honors this ordering when it redeploys the artifacts on startup.

If you use hot deployment to deploy your artifacts, be sure to copy the corresponding files into the pickup
directory one-by-one. Copying the files in one group, for example by using a single cp command, provides no guarantee of ordering.

Deploying Shared Artifacts

Artifacts may be shared by plans.
Sharing occurs when a plan is deployed which references an artifact that was previously deployed or is a child artifact
of a plan that was previously deployed.
Sharing also occurs when an artifact is deployed which is already a child of a deployed plan, but in this case the shared
artifact may not appear as a top-level artifact, for example, in the Admin Console, in the shell,
and in JMX.

Sharing is taken into account when artifacts are stopped.
A shared artifact is stopped only when all the artifacts referencing the shared artifact have been stopped
and, if the shared artifact was deployed in its own right, the artifact itself has been stopped.

Restrictions

Virgo Server for Apache Tomcat does not support deploying fragment bundles. Typically, fragment bundles should be placed in $SERVER_HOME/repository/ext
or $SERVER_HOME/repository/usr so that they will be installed automatically with their host bundles.